Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1887-01-02
BILL NYE
GIVES EDWIN BOOTH SOME POINTS on
ACTING
Was Hamlet Insane or Only Intoxicated! -Bo oth's
Superiority Sometimes 10 ElocUtonists-
bipartisan Ideas A5ou! Civil Ser
vice Reform and Ophela.



Booth in Hamlet had read the pla.
/ before, but it was better Us he gave it,
think
The play of Hamlet is not catchy
/ and there is a noticeable lack OF local gag
( in it. 4 gentleman who stood up behint
me and leaned against his breath all tn,
evening said he thought Ophelia's slngin!
WAS too disconnected He is keen oh
server and has seen Il great many plays
lie went out frequently between the acts
and always came hack in better spirits
lie noticed that wcpt a little in one OF
two places, and said that if ! thought that
was affecting ! ought to see only Il
Farmers Daughter" lie drives bus
for the Holcnden Hotel here and has seen
great deal Of life. Still, he talked freely
with me through the evening, and told me
+ what was coming next. He Is Il great adj
mirer of the drama, and night after night
he may be seen in the foyer, accompanied
only by his breath.
There is considerable discussion among
critics us to whether Hamlet was really in
sane or not, but | think he assumed it in
order to throw the prosecution off the
track, for he was II very smart man, and
when his uncle tried t. work off some OF
his Danish presentations on him | fully
expected him to pull a card out of his
pocket and present it To his royal tallness
on which might be seen the legend:
lam SOMETHING OF a LIAR MYSELF!
l,,,, I ,,,, ,,l,I hn I,l not E,r ~ ,VnrlJ bo ~
seemed out OF character in u play like that.
Mr.. Booth wore Il dark waterproof cloak
all the evening, and sword with which
he frequently killed people He was
dressed IN black throughout, with hair OF
the same shade. lie is using the same
hair i'll Hamlet" that he did twenty
years ago, though he uses less OF it. He
wears black nickerbockers and long, black
croOkless stockings.
Mr. Booth is dong well in the acting
business, frequently getting as high rs -
apiece Tor tickets to his performances. He
was encUred by the audience several times
last night but Iclraincd from repeating
the play, fearing that il would make it
late for those who had to 20 back to Bella
donna, o., after the close of the entertain
ment.
Toward the end of the play a little
rough on rats gets into the elderberry wine
and the royal family drink it, after which
there is considerable excitement, and 4
man with a good, reliable stomach pnmp
would have all he could do. Several Of
the royal family curl up and perish.
They do not die in the house.
During an interview between Hamlet
and his mother, an old gentleman, who
has the honor to he Ophclias father, hides
behind picket fence, 50 as to oycrhear the
He gets excited and says
IN a low, cultural tone of voice,
whcrcupun Hamlet runs his sword through
the picket fence i'll such way as to bore a
Large hole into the Old man, who then dies.
have heard great many people speak
the piece, beginning:
10 be or not ~ be,
hat Mr.. Booth does it better than any one
| have ever heard once heard an elOcu-
OF a smart AlickutioniSt, as
my friend the HoOsier Poet would say
This man recited "IO be or not to be- in
4 manner which, he said, had frequently
'lOllSAl AttlAS W " u hlNStNl W weep. TIC
rccited it with his right hand socked into
his bosom up TO the elbow, and his fair hair
tossed about over his brow. His teeming
brain, which claimed to be kind of four
Be- S'I on ''hP4, bTql iH "a aBbemsart9
he was indeed mad. So were
the people who listened TO him. He
Kissed it through his clcnched teeth and
. tl,r.n,yh Ia. rod
walled it up into the ceiling and bleated 1t
down the aislcs, rolled it over and over
against the raiters OF his reverberating
mouth. handed it out in big capsules or
Kissed it through his puckered atOmizer OF
a mouth, walled and beloved like wild
and maddened taillcsS steer in fly times,
dartiug across the stage like headless hen,
ripped the gentle atmosphere into shreds
with his guinea-hen voluntary, bowed to
us, and teetered off the stage.
Mr.. Booth does not hoist his shoulders
and settle back on his ''pastern Jint' like
q man who is about TO set a refractory
brake on coal car, neither does he i'm
merse his right arm in his bosom up to the
second Joint He seems to have the idea
that Hamlet spoke these lines mostly be-
cause he felt like saying something, instead
OF doing ii to introduce a set of health-liit
gestures and 4 hcarse, barytone snort.
\ head of dark hair, a low, mellow,
union depot tone OF voice, and dark blue,
thrce-sheet poster will not make success
fui Hamlet, and blessed be the man who
knows this without experimenting on the
people till he has bunions on his immortal
soul.
have sent note to Mr.. Booth this
morning asking him TO call at my room,
No. 63, and saying that | would give him
my idea about the drama from purely
bipartisan standpoint but it is raining so
fast now that fear he will not be able to
come. BILL NfE.